


Too Close For Comfort

by SailorPortia



Series: Femslash February 2021 [10]
Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mutually Unrequited, Oblivious, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29769837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorPortia/pseuds/SailorPortia
Summary: Barbara tries to comfort Hannah after a bad date while trying to keep her true feelings from coming out.
Relationships: Hannah England/Barbara Parker
Series: Femslash February 2021 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2140674
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	Too Close For Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Hannah and Barbara can have a little angst, as a treat <3

Barbara was roused from her book (volume 322 of  _ Nightfall _ ) by the sound of her dorm room door slamming shut. She whipped her head around to see Hannah seething with a rage so furious it was a wonder the tears in her eyes hadn't already evaporated.

The book was forgotten immediately. "What happened?" Barbara asked, getting up from her bed to go to Hannah's side, ready to offer a hug.

"That asshole," Hannah spat. "My so-called date happened."

Barbara winced. Hannah had been looking forward to the date all week—Barbara not so much. Despite all common decency, she still had to mercilessly smother the part of her that was relieved her best friend's romantic future had gone up in flames.

"He kept looking at other girls all night," Hannah continued. "He didn't even wait for our date to be over before running off with some tramp."

"You're better off without him," Barbara said, pulling Hannah into a hug. "Clearly he had no taste. If I were your date, I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off you." Her words were far from hollow; given the chance, she would've stared at Hannah all night. She had let her hair down for once, and her casual outfit—a yellow summer dress—was beautiful in its simplicity. Then again, Barbara always thought Hannah was beautiful.

Hannah returned the hug, clutching at her desperately. "Thanks." She sniffled. "You're right. That date was a huge waste of my time. I should've spent the night with you instead."

Barbara's heart skipped a beat. The idea of her crush preferring to hang out with her instead of her date... She knew that Hannah only meant as friends, but her saying it still did a number on her.

"I'm here for you now. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Hannah said. "I've given that guy enough of my time without moaning about him to you." She disengaged from the hug. "I'm just going to go to bed."

"Alright." Barbara wanted to make Hannah feel better, but she didn't want to be too pushy. Her first impulse was to hug her best friend tight enough to wring all the sadness from her body, but she didn't want to take advantage of her crush's heartache by using it as an excuse to cling to her.

That consideration, however, didn't keep her from watching Hannah change into her bathrobe. It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, although her interest in seeing it had developed into something less than innocent. Hannah didn't seem bothered by the fact that she could be seen undressing; Barbara wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Where's Diana?" Hannah asked as she lay down on her bed.

"Out on night patrol." Barbara tried not to dwell on the fact that they were alone right now, and would be until midnight. She went to return to her own bed, but Hannah stopped her with a hand on her wrist.

"Barbara, can you do me a favour?" she asked.

"Anything for you."

"Sleep with me tonight."

"Wh-what!?" Barbara couldn't believe her ears.  _ There's no way that she just asked me to sleep with her, _ she thought.

"I'm feeling lonely," Hannah said, her voice soft as a whisper. "Can you cuddle with me?"

_ Of course she didn't mean "sleep with me" like that, _ Barbara realized. Not that she wouldn't have been up for it. Cuddling with her crush was a bad idea. She might get a little too comfortable and let her true intentions shine through. Be that as it may, Barbara couldn't look into Hannah's red-rimmed eyes and tell her no.

"Of course. I did say anything for you."

Hannah gently tugged on Barbara's wrist, pulling her onto the bed. With a wave of her wand, she turned out the lights. Once they were both settled under the covers, Hannah snuggled up and nestled her head against Barbara's collarbone.

Barbara bit her tongue to keep herself from whimpering as Hannah wound her arms around her. She was never more self-conscious of her body as she eased into the embrace. One hand out of place could make things irreparably awkward.

"I'm sorry for being needy," Hannah said.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to be comforted after getting your heart stomped on." Barbara ran her fingers through Hannah's hair in a way she hoped was soothing.

Hannah let out a contented sigh. "You're too good for me."

_ How do I respond to that? _ Barbara wondered. She felt a little too guilty to be too good for Hannah. "I'm not good enough for you," would've been a little too revealing to say. Instead of speaking, she replied by rubbing Hannah's back. Hannah surprised her by nuzzling against her, practically burying her face in her chest.

Barbara wondered if she should stop. Hannah was vulnerable right now, desperate for affection. Even though she loved Hannah—no, because she loved Hannah—she couldn't give in to temptation. Her best friend needed comfort, and she couldn't let her feelings get in the way of that. She would suffer through the tantalizing closeness for Hannah's sake.

* * *

Part of Hannah was certain that she wasn't playing fair. Her half-baked guilt didn't feel like it was enough of a response to her asking her best friend to take care of her after a shitty date. Maybe the events of the night had critically diminished her ability to give a fuck, but Barbara deserved better than that.

She knew Barbara would be willing to do whatever it took to make her feel better. However, she'd underestimated the effect it would have on her. Her face was flush with Barbara's chest to hide the fact that she was blushing radiantly.

Comfort was all well and good, but Barbara was making her feel a little more than that. She felt so at home in Barbara's arms, a little too relaxed. If she loosened up any more, she was at risk of acting on her deeply repressed impulses and kissing the living hell out of her best friend, which would greatly complicate their relationship for obvious reasons. Even more torturous than those feelings was her uncertainty over how Barbara would react; there was the possibility she would let her out of the interest of consoling her.

She could always make some excuse to break off their embrace and kill off the rising sexual tension, but she told herself that she didn't want to arouse Barbara's suspicions. The truth was that she didn't want this to stop. She wondered why she had even bothered going on a date with anyone else when there was someone by her side all along who could do this to her without even trying. Barbara's comfort left her with so many unsettling questions about herself, but she couldn't sort them out in this state of mind. For now, she could only will herself to sleep before something happened and she could figure herself out in the morning.


End file.
